Supreme Court upholds US' birthright citizenship

WASHINGTON — The US Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected US President Donald Trump's executive order denying birthright citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants or temporary residents, upholding birthright citizenship.

"Citizenship, then and now, was the right to have rights — to freely participate in our political community. The Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment extended that promise to 'every free-born person in this land' … We keep that promise today," according to the opinion, delivered by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The vote was 6-3, with three conservative justices joining the three liberal justices to form the majority.

Roberts was joined by fellow conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, as well as the court's three liberal justices, in rejecting the order. The ruling marked the third time this year that the court invalidated a major Trump initiative, following its February decision to strike down his sweeping global tariffs and a rejection on Monday of his bid to immediately fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook.

The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in 1868, was a response to issues affecting freed slaves following the US Civil War, and was intended to ensure that black people, including former slaves, had citizenship.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside," it reads.

The birthright citizenship executive order was signed by Trump on Jan 20, 2025 — the inauguration day of his second term.

The executive order declares that children born to persons unlawfully or temporarily present in the United States are not "subject to the jurisdiction" of the United States, and thus do not qualify for citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment or the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Ahead of the ruling, some experts estimated that Trump's directive could affect the legal status of as many as 250,000 babies born each year and could require the families of millions more to prove their newborns' citizenship.

Several parents filed suit, some on their own behalf and others on behalf of their children. Multiple lower courts had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and the executive order never took effect.

For years, Trump had threatened to limit who qualifies for citizenship at birth.

Trump said in a Truth Social post on Tuesday that the highest court's decision is "too bad for our country".

He went on to say that "we can easily make it up in Congress through legislation … Congress should start today to work on ending expensive and unfair to our country, birthright citizenship".

After the ruling, the US Justice Department on Tuesday directed federal prosecutors to prioritize investigations of so-called birth tourism schemes.

A senior Justice Department official, Colin McDonald, told employees in a memo that people who come to the United States under "false pretenses" to give birth and secure citizenship for their child could be criminally charged under laws barring visa fraud, money laundering, identity theft and wire fraud.

In the Supreme Court's other Tuesday rulings, the court upheld laws in roughly half the states that prohibit transgender girls and women from playing on their public school and college sports teams and struck down limits on party spending in federal elections.

AGENCIES-XINHUA